The Moment is Vast
by Oppressed
Summary: Sally's thoughts at the very public proclamation of Jack Skellington's demise through her own mortal danger. ONE-SHOT


Disclaimer: I own neither the title, which I am using from a wonderful book called The Seer and the Sword, nor most of the dialogue written here. I neither own, nor claim to own **The Nightmare before Christmas**; it belongs to its respected (and exalted) owners. I am making no monetary profit from this piece of fanfiction; it is for pure enjoyment and pleasure.  
  
Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed That Simple Act, I can't tell you how much it meant to me. Well, I could, but you just want to read the story, right?  
  
Right.  
  
The Moment is Vast  
  
Rating: PG.  
  
Authoress: Oppressed  
  
_'The King of Halloween has been blown to smithereens. Skeleton Jack is now a pile of dust.'_ Wailed the voice of the mayor from the megaphone he used when making announcements to the general public.  
  
**Inhale**.  
  
She was frozen, unable to move as the words penetrated her bound body, and her mouth ceased to function to her desires. The sadness and pain filled her body in the silence, roaring through her ears, and coursing through the body that had been created by Doctor Finklestein for his own purposes.  
  
The body and mind that had fallen in love with the now absent Jack Skellington.  
  
The sorrow overwhelmed her rag-doll body, hopeless, raging pain at Jack's loss and her own, immeasurable grief.  
  
**Exhale.  
**  
_My dearest friend..._ her thoughts spared from the shock that had inhibited her limbs, and she mourned, her eyes closing, the strain of tight bonds forgotten as she pictured Jack's carefree smile that he'd gifted her with thoughtless ease and the grace that the Pumpkin King was...**had** naturally been endowed with.  
  
His spider-like elegance as he had lamented in the silent graveyard crept through her cobwebbed mind, the same elegance that was now lost to the reality of a harsh world where nothing beyond the 'normal' conception of human thoughts reigned. Her anguish-tagged thoughts reached out to a comfort, small though it was; she would be following him to oblivion shortly.  
  
**Inhale.**  
  
'What's that you were sayin'?_ Rag-doll_?' The gunny-sack of crawlers and horrors taunted her fierce accusations of her inevitable doom, and Jack's inevitable rescue, that had been uttered before the dreadful words had reached her ears, and the other two who were in the room of tortures.  
  
Sandy Claws, incarcerated, and spiteful towards Jack would never know how much he meant to the denizens of Halloween Town, just as those in Christmas Town joyfully worshipped Santa Claus.  
  
_I'm sorry, Mr. Claus, for what Jack has done through his ignorance. He meant well... _She mentally spared a few moments from her grief, and concentrated on her breathing.  
  
**Exhale.**  
  
Then her mind, a long tunnel of darkness that Jack's demise had sent spiraling out of control, closed to one small point; joining Jack, however comforting the thought might be, meant Sandy Claws would be killed along with herself.  
  
Christmas and Halloween would die tonight.  
  
**Inhale.**  
  
Her mouth opened as Oogie-Boogie began shaking his dice, and then began to hoist the lever that made the platform Sally and Sandy Claws were laying on precariously closer to the vat of boiling substance that would destroy the two prisoners.  
  
She began to scream, and call for help. If at least, not for her, more for Sandy. He was just an innocent bystander in the machinations of Oogie. Then her heart sputtered in hope.  
  
'What? Snake-eyes!' He had roared; his drawl a balm to her quivering fears. Then she felt the ground shake as he slammed his fist down on the ground.  
  
'Eleven.' He sang, and fairly skipped to the lever once more.  
  
'Bye-bye,' he called, waving cheerily, 'Doll-face! And Sand-Man!' She began to scream, her small body sliding down the metal to her death. Then, long fingers grabbed her arm gently, and her scream stopped, thinking Sandy had somehow gotten free, or she had joined Jack in whatever lay next after death's death.  
  
A ghost's skull grinned at her, eyes worried, and smile sincere, graceful and belonging.  
  
_'Jack...'_ She whispered.  
  
**Exhale**.  
  
Continued in the stop-motion feature  
  
Tim Burton's  
  
The Nightmare Before Christmas  
  
Thanks for reading; please leave a comment on the style, idea, plot, characterizations, anything you want as long as you write it! 


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